Perennial from filiform rhizomes, the stems weak, slender, usually reclining on other plants, somewhat 3-angled, scabrellate on the angles to nearly smooth; lvs linear or narrowly lanceolate, the lower to 9 cm × 8 mm, the upper shorter and proportionately narrower, often roughened on the margins and midvein beneath; fls solitary on long slender pedicels; sep triangular to lanceolate, 1.5–5 mm; cor funnelform, pale blue to white, 4–13 mm; fr opening at base; 2n=34, 68, 170. Wet sunny meadows; N.S. and Que. to Sask., s. to Ga., Ky., Mo., and Neb. June–Aug. Two vars.: Var. aparinoides with lanceolate lvs (the longer ones 1–5 cm, avg 6 times as long as wide), the cor 4–10 mm, the divergent pedicels often upcurved at the tip and with naked summit 0.4–4 cm, is the slender s. phase, extending n. to the Canadian boundary. Var. grandiflora Holz. (C. uliginosa), with linear lvs (the longer ones 2–9 cm, avg 12 times as long as wide), the cor 5–13 mm, the ascending pedicels with naked summit 1–8 cm, is the more robust n. phase, extending s. to Pa. and Io.
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